Figurative Language In 'The Black Walnut Tree'

The well-known Christian author once wrote, "Consider a tree for a moment. As beautiful as trees are to look at, we don't see what goes on underground - as they grow roots. Trees must develop deep roots in order to grow strong and produce their beauty. But we don't see the roots. We just see and enjoy the beauty. In much the same way, what goes on inside of us is like the roots of a tree." When reading the novel Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, the reader will steadily notice that, as the story goes on, Melinda's artistic abilities will improve. In this essay, I will explain how trees are used to portray Melinda's transformation, by using quotes from the text and support to back it up.

In the play Raisin in the Sun written by Lorraine Hansberry takes place on the southside of Chicago where Walter and his family are racially profiled and show us how the survive throughout their struggles. The central struggles for the younger family in their search for the American dream is mostly poverty and being racially profiled against for their actions.

In some plays the experience of an important character changes him or her; this can be said about Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun. A perfect example of a changed character from this play is Walter Lee Younger. Through the trials and tribulations that him and his family are made to face he becomes a better man.

Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun, Hansberry details the Youngers, a zealous black family, struggling to

In Lorraine Hansberry’s “Raisin in the Sun” Act 3 Walter has seized the hero role and he displays a lot of pride. Walter is starting to understand that he has to stand up for what he believes in and not everything is about money. “And we have decided to move into our house because my father-my father-he earned it for us brick by brick”(1933). Walter turns down the Clybourne Park Association 's offer only after he remembers the roots his family has in America, and the rights that they deserve. He wants to set a strong example for his son, Travis, just like his father did for him. Even though Walter is the main character of the story, it is the women in his life who have the biggest dream for him, to find his own manhood. Manliness is having the strength to stand up for what is right, and Mama realizes that Walter has found his manhood when she says to Ruth, “He finally come into his manhood today, didn’t he? Kind of like a rainbow after the rain”(1935). Throughout the play when Walter loses and eventually recovers his pride it forms a major plotline in the play. Since the play portrays people who have little to nothing to their name, pride is a means for them to hold on to their dignity and declare their worth as humans. The drama forms this conflict between pride and money, and although money does win out for a little bit, the Younger family still maintains its pride at the end of the

Walter goes into immediate denial, making excuses for where Willy, their second business partner, could be with the money. He continues on until he realizes “THAT MONEY IS MADE OUT OF MY [HIS] FATHER’S FLESH-” (128) and he had lost it all; he felt he lost his chance of pursuing a better life now that he had even lost his father’s support. His false pride is severely injured up until he is struck with an idea which he believes could save the family. He abruptly calls Mr.Lindner, who he had originally turned away, and tells him to come by because he wants to take his offer of being paid to not move into the new house. He believes he is “..see[ing] life like it is” (141) in order to rightfully take his place as the head of the family by making this decision for them, regardless of the hope this house brought them all. The rest of the Younger family is disconcerted by this new business deal, and asks Walter if this is what he truly wants and believes is right, to which he responds that he’s “Going to feel fine…[like] a man…” (144). Due to internally knowing he still had prove himself but not physically doing so, Walter’s delicate, false pride in being a man doesn’t allow him to consider how his actions affect

To be prideful is human nature, even when it hasn 't been earned. Being proud of who you are and what you have accomplished is an important part of everyone 's life, but sometimes we are prideful without something to be proud of. This kind of pride is shown in the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry through the character Walter Younger. He enters the play with a false sense of pride in being a man, despite the fact that he is a chauffeur who is struggling to support his family. Throughout the plot, he struggles with acceptance of his social status and economical situations, but ends up achieving true fulfillment in simply being proud of who he and his family are as people with aspirations. Walter’s evolution as a guy who is not

First, Walter one children of mama younger. Walter older than his sister Beneatha is married to Ruth and they have a son together named Travis. The main problem Walter deals with in the play is mamas inheritance money from Big Walter ( Their father and Mamas late husband ). Walter wants all the money for himself to open up a liquor store with his friends Bobo and Willy Harris. While mama a devoted christian does not want anything to do with thinking it won’t get her in the pearly gates of Heaven. This causes a lot of arguing in the house Walter saying to mama “ You just don’t understand, Mama, you just don’t understand “ (Page 74) In one of their heated arguments. Eventually Mama caves in giving him Money

When people are poor, they often have a lot of problems in their life. They struggle through every day, but they learn to appreciate everything that they have. However, when people are going through tough times, they often think that money will solve all of their problems. In “A Raisin In The Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry, she guides the audience through a black family -- impacted by the need for money -- living on the south side of Chicago. The Younger family gets Lena Younger’s dead husband’s insurance check and buys a house in a white neighborhood, and they save the remainder of the money for Beneatha’s medical degree and for starting a liquor store. Willy Harris steals the $6,500 used to start the liquor store and for Beneatha’s college money,

Walter wants to be free from the family’s low income lifestyle, and becoming rich is Walter’s extrinsic motivation to live. Mama said to Walter, “Son-how come you talk so much ‘bout money?” Walter responded with immense passion, “Because it is life, Mama!” Walter looks at life, and like a bride sees through her wedding vail, Walter sees through money lenses. He sees his father’s money as a possibility in a world that revolves around a minimal supply of money. He feels that if he cannot achieve greatness and get his family out of the slums of Chicago, then he has failed at everything. It not only concerns his family that he sees his human worth out of money, but it worries them because they are not able to trust him to be responsible and just when making decisions. While the Younger family wants to own a house and receive a stronger income, Walter is the only one who obsesses over it and allows it to alter the ways in which he treats important people in his life. Segregation caused dreams to become deferred, and weights were put onto the families during the 1950s. Due to segregation, they could not afford what white families could, and this was because they were paid less in the workforce. “How sweet it would be if I found I could fly. I 'd

Both protagonists believe in their dreams, and have high hopes for the future. In the play, Walter’s mother receives a paycheck due to her husband passing, and is unsure of what she should do with it. Walter Lee fantasizes about this money, believing he would become rich once that money was invested into business. However, these fantasies come into conflict with Mama’s when she buys a house with some of the money. The poem’s protagonist also recalls to

Money is one of the things in the world that a person can become obsessed with. In the story “A Raisin in the sun” the author Lorraine Hansberry shows how a family is changed by the lust of money. A widow, Lena, her son Walter Younger, his wife Ruth and daughter Beneatha all lived under the same roof. Lena just lost her husband and is receiving a check for his death. With the money, Lena wants to buy a new house for the whole family to live in but everyone else in the family sees a different type of opportunity. Being the man of the household, Walter dreams of owning a liquor store and plans on using Lena’s money to do so. Walter is always after money and believes that the only way to succeed in life is with money. For example, when Walter is talking about the check, he says, “Mama, sometimes when I’m downtown and I pass them cool, quiet-looking restaurants where them white boys are sitting back and talking about things, turning deals worth millions of dollars, sometimes I see guys don’t look much older than me” (992).This shows how Walter wanted something more out of life and not just be a poor black man.

The symbols are used to explore the demonization of characters, and even inanimate objects, which do not comply with the societal stereotypes of the deterministic and authoritarian setting. Such demonization and fear of the “other” is prevalent in modern society with respect to conflict regarding equality. Miller displays this when he uses prose to describe the forest as “the last place on Earth that was not paying homage to God” (Pg. 15), and again when he uses dialogue of Parris to comment that “abominations are done in the forest” (Pg. 19). Thus, Miller demonizes the forest as many people have demonized difference throughout history, in this context owing to the inability of Christians to convert the Indians. Therefore, highlighting the extent to which difference was feared in the play. Furthermore, the author then uses the actions of Proctor to highlight the extent to which free will conflicts with determinism, when the character chooses to die, rather than accuse others and “blacken all of them when [his confession] is nailed to the church the very day they hang for silence” (Pg. 124). Thus, Miller showed that a balance should exist between free will and determinism, and that everyone has free will, regardless of the type of society they reside

In “The Black Walnut Tree,” by Mary Oliver, we are introduced to a financially struggling mother and daughter arguing whether or not to sell the worthless black walnut tree to pay off their mortgage. Consequently, the two ladies reluctantly refused to relinquish the walnut tree. Throughout the poem, Oliver alluded to the possible reasoning of why the family want to keep such an unnecessary tree and the possible significance the tree may hold to the two women, through the usage of figurative language.

Racism is a major issue that has effected many people since its discovery. Racism is the hatred by a person of one race pointed at a person of another race. A Raisin in the Sun deals with the impact of racism on the life of the younger family. According to Nicole King (2002), "Race is a word and a category that can simultaneously denote a "person 's color, caste, culture, and capacities, oftentimes depending on what historical, political, or social forces are at work" (p.214). What happens to a dream deferred, does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? The title of the play; A Raisin in the Sun, comes from a line in Langston Hughes’s poem “Harlem”. The poem is about a dream deferred, in which the persona makes use of striking imagery to